The exterior surface of cabinet doors, for example, may have a variety of ornamental features to provide an aesthetically pleasing cabinet. For example, the exterior surface of the door may consist of wood, metal, or plastic panelling or trim. Alternatively, the cabinet door exterior may have a painted or stenciled design. In the case of a bathroom medicine cabinet, the exterior surface usually consists of a mirror.
Although cabinets of the above described type are generally well known, the relatively permanent attachment between the body and the door of the cabinet results in several limitations and disadvantages. First, cabinet manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers must stock entire cabinet assemblies. Due to the wide variety of cabinet sizes and styles desired by consumers, a great number of entire cabinet assemblies must be stocked, requiring large amounts of warehouse and storage space. From the consumer's standpoint, replacing the entire cabinet assembly can be quite expensive and labor intensive. In this latter regard, removal of the old cabinet and installation of the new cabinet normally requires tools such as drills, screwdrivers, etc.
Cabinet doors may be replaced by removing the screws holding the door to the hinge and replacing the old door with a new door. This conventional method of door replacement, however, also has several disadvantages. First, the new replacement door may not easily attach to the cabinet hinge assembly. Due to the wide variety of hinges and doors available, the new points of attachment may not align with the previous points of attachment. Thus, the installer may have to drill new holes in the cabinet assembly to attach the new door. Installation again requires several tools such as screwdrivers, drills, and wrenches.
Several hinge assembly devices have been proposed in the past to address some of the problems mentioned above. U.S. Pat. No. 722,624, issued to Pickop, discloses a detachable hinge having a leaf with a keyholed slot. The hinge mounts on a door frame having a stud with an enlarged head. This hinge assembly, however, fails to provide any means for preventing the hinge from being accidentally lifted off the door frame.
U.S. Pat. No. 188,402, issued to Palm, discloses a detachable door and hinge assembly having two locking posts extending from one leaf of the hinge. These locking posts slidably engage two keyhole slots contained in locking plate recessed into a door frame. A pivoting locking plate prevents the door from being lifted off the frame. The door and hinge assembly disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 188,402, however, requires tools to mount the hinge and the locking plates. U.S. Pat. No. 1,835,042 issued to Hammer discloses a bathroom cabinet door assembly that provides for removable attachment of the door to the cabinet structure. This assembly, however, also requires tools to assemble the door to the hinge structure.
In view of the above disadvantages in this art, it would be desirable to provide a structure, such as a cabinet, having a simplified door and hinge system that can be originally manufactured or removed and replaced as an after market item without the need for tools. It would also be desirable to provide a removable cabinet door having a means to prevent the door from being inadvertently lifted off the hinge assembly. Furthermore, it would be desirable to eliminate the need to stock numerous styles of cabinet assemblies and the related need of the consumer to replace whole cabinet assemblies during remodelling.